Community, Workforce Engagement Main Focus for Top EM Official

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, fourth from right, and EM Los Alamos Field Office leaders meet with Los Alamos County officials recently at the Los Alamos County Chambers. From left: Los Alamos County Public Utilities Department Manager Philo Shelton, acting EM Communications & Stakeholder Engagement Director Carrie Meyer, EM Los Alamos Field Office Deputy Manager Ellie Gilbertson, EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Jessica Kunkle, Robertson, Los Alamos County Council Chair Denise Derkacs, Deputy Los Alamos County Manager Linda Matteson and Los Alamos County Councilor Randall Ryti.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - In her first visit to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) cleanup site since being named head of the cleanup program in June, Senior Advisor Candice Robertson recently traveled to Los Alamos to meet with local community leaders and the EM workforce to get a firsthand look at sustained progress underway.

With an extensive career in public service, Robertson places importance on public engagement, and her visit to Northern New Mexico highlighted this core tenet of her leadership style.

During the jam-packed visit, Robertson met with a wide range of stakeholders, pueblo leaders and community leaders, including representatives from the Accord Pueblos, EM Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) transportation pueblos, and Los Alamos County Council. She also visited community leaders in Espanola and Santa Fe, New Mexico, members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and officials from the New Mexico Environment Department.

Robertson capped off her visit by participating in a public town hall-style event along with DOE Nuclear Security Under Secretary and National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby. More than 500 people participated in person and online. Attendees provided comments and asked questions during the event.

From left, Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos President and General Manager Brad Smith, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson and EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Jessica Kunkle talk to the Los Alamos National Laboratory legacy cleanup workforce during a recent town hall-style event in New Mexico.

In her meetings, Robertson listened to the concerns and challenges faced by the various groups of stakeholders and ensured she and her team remain committed to increasing public engagement throughout New Mexico.

As a former commissioner for Nye County, Nevada, Robertson emphasized how her past experience has helped her to understand the importance of alignment and building consensus where possible. She acknowledged many times throughout her visit that while tough decisions often must be made, taking time to try to get as much buy-in as possible not only results in better informed decisions, but also smoother implementation of those decisions.

Robertson toured the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) legacy cleanup site and visited with EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) senior management and employees.

She observed the ongoing effort to address 158 buried corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) containing cemented transuranic waste - an EM priority for 2024. The tour stopped at LANL's Technical Area-21, which was the lab's Manhattan Project- and Cold War-era plutonium processing complex, including the former Radiological Liquid Waste Facility, the last legacy building there to undergo decontamination and decommissioning.

"You're all doing amazing work," Robertson told EM-LA and N3B staff during the tour.

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, fourth from left, views work to prepare buried corrugated metal pipes containing cemented transuranic waste for retrieval at Technical Area 54, Area G, at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, center, visits Technical Area 21 (TA-21) for an overview on the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) legacy waste remaining from the complex of Manhattan Project and Cold War buildings that housed LANL's plutonium processing facility. Pictured in the background is the former Radiological Liquid Waste Facility, which will be the last existing legacy building at TA-21 to undergo deactivation and demolition.

Additionally, Robertson, along with senior EM-LA and N3B leadership, took part in a meeting with the workforce. Robertson emphasized the importance of the LANL legacy cleanup mission to the entire EM program.

"What you all are doing here is some of our highest priority work across the complex, both in terms of the fact that the state of New Mexico has two key sites for EM - LANL and WIPP," Robertson said. "And what you do here matters greatly to the state of New Mexico for continued support for WIPP, which enables cleanup progress across the entire complex."

She added, "You all are doing some really innovative things that can help set the stage for continued cleanup success across the entire program."

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson converses with EM Los Alamos Field Office Deputy Manager Ellie Gilbertson during a recent town hall-style event for the Los Alamos National Laboratory legacy cleanup workforce in New Mexico.

Speaking to almost 600 EM-LA and N3B staff and subcontractor employees, EM-LA Manager Jessica Kunkle outlined her priorities, including getting to know the site workforce, strong collaboration with the N3B team, ensuring continuity in leadership and serving as an advocate for the LANL legacy cleanup mission.

"At my core, I am a people person. Cultivating and nurturing personal connections and relationships is vitally important to me," said Kunkle, who was raised in Los Alamos. "Bringing people together to work as part of a team to accomplish goals is something that I am passionate about. I'm looking forward to doing that here with the integrated EM-LA-N3B team."

In his remarks, N3B President and General Manager Brad Smith stressed the importance of the cleanup work underway to all those who live in Northern New Mexico.

"Everybody eats the food from around here, breathes the air around here and drinks the water from here, which means we have a direct impact on everything that's happening in risk reduction. That's a righteous mission and each of you play a role in that," Smith said.